15 Years
by Ms. Kinnikufan
Summary: 15 years later, Kevin and Pumpinator meet again. (yaoi)


15 Years

By Ms. Kinnikufan

Disclaimer: I own nothing

It had been 15 years since Kevin Mask had last seen Pumpinator.

A lot of things can change in 15 years. He had lost the Chojin Crown, then tried to unsuccessfully drive out all emotion from his being, had an mental breakdown, landed in therapy, then brutally defeated Mantaro Kinniku about 2 years later.

Mantaro Kinniku then had a breakdown of his own:

Mantaro shakily stood up. Despite the fact that he had many wounds and broken bones, his expression and voice was clear and firm:

"I don't think I ever wanted this. All I really wanted as a child was to meet a nice person and raise at least five kids. But I recently found out I can't even do that. I'm sterile. Whether it's from constant chojin training or just some damn biological defect, I don't know. I not even qualify to rule Kinniku planet because a king has to produce at least one male heir. I'm not so sad about that because I'm too stupid to be a good ruler."

There were several murmurs of agreement in the audience.

"Good-bye Kinniku legacy." Mantaro then fell unconscious.

About 6 months later, Mantaro disappeared, leaving a note that said this:

I found another broken person. We're going to fix each other. Maybe we will all see each other again in 20 years, when this has all blown over. Or maybe not. Anyway, I wish you all well. Even Kevin Mask, even in spite of the fact that he's a giant asshole

A distant Kinniku cousin was put in charge of ruling Kinniku Planet. It was apparently a good choice. The economy improved in the tenfold since he became king.

It was strange. he had never given two thoughts about Mantaro Kinniku until now. Kevin guessed past people made you think about the past.

Jesus Christ. 15 years. He was almost-but not quite on the brink of 40 years. 40 years! He never thought he would be that old!

A lot of things had happen in society in the 15 years since he last saw Pumpinator.

Men could now give birth with new fertility drugs. Computers that now could be controlled with words. Voting age in some countries was lowered to 16 years of age.

Most significantly, the number of females wrestler now outnumbered the male wrestlers. Also significantly, the chojins were having great amount of children. In the past 1 was the common number. 2 was rare.

How many kids was Jeager up to now? Jade, Pearl, Adrian, Anna, Gerta, and the new baby Elke. 6 kids. Damn, was Jeager fertile.

Kevin shook his head. Why had he thought that? That had nothing whatsoever to do with Pumpinator. He was getting old.

In the back of his mind, Kevin had always wondered what had happened to Pumpinator.

He had always felt sort of guilty over Pumpinator because it really wasn't about honor that just caused him to leave a seriously injured Pumpinator (though it was the reason he had left the D.M.P.) It was because he wanted to make an extra-clean break with Pumpinator. Kevin wanted to escape the guilt of his using Pumpinator to get back at Mars.

And there he was, sitting at the park bench, all alone.

"Kevin Mask, are you just going to stand there staring at the back of my head?" Pumpinator addressed Kevin.

"How did you know I was standing here?" Kevin suddenly felt very awkward.

"You tend to breathe very loudly when you're nervous. So you just gonna stand there creepily staring at the back of my head, or are you going to talk to me face-to-face, like you rarely did in the past?"

Kevin sat next to Pumpinator, putting his fingers together.

"So how's life been treating you?" Kevin inwardly winced as the question came out of his mouth. What a stupid question to ask someone you haven't seen in 15 years.

"Well in the past 15 years, I had to go through physical therapy to learn how to walk again. This was after my match with Kid Muscle of course. I also went into nonphysical therapy during my physical therapy. Then I went back to school. I majored in marketing, and I minored in design. After graduating, I got a good job and put away a bunch of money. By the time I married my boyfriend, we had enough to buy a nice house and start a family. We currently have four kids, with one on the way. We're here on vacation."

Kevin was surprised by the matter-of-factness in which Pumpinator spoke of the past. It was also a bit ego-crushing not to hear how Pumpinator felt after Kevin left him.

"After I got my degree, I never thought about you once. Not once you asshole. Ego-crushing isn't it?"

Kevin winced at the "asshole" remark.

"My life was a lot happier after you got out of it. I wasn't a love-strucked idiot lusting after a self-righteous asshole who thought he was so pure and righteous. Someone who secretly fancied himself the one good apple in a barrel of a bad apples, or perhaps in his later days, thought himself a good apple done in by a bunch of bad apples. You know what Kevin? He was just a bad apple who joined a bunch of other bad apples. But one of the bad apples didn't realize this and thought the other bad apple was really a shiny, unbruised apple. Maybe one of the really fancy apple breed like Pink Lady or something.

And in the bad apple found himself kicking himself for loving the self-righteous apple. Then the bad apple, (who had managed to shine himself to a presentable apple through education) found himself another bruised imperfect apple. And the bad apple found himself a million times happier with the bruised apple. In fact, the bad apple went on to have apple seedlings with the other bruised imperfect apple."

"Wait, I'm confused. When did apples come into this?" Kevin scratched his mask, which of course was a futile action.

"You're the bad apple who thought he was a good apple! I'm the other bad apple! The bruised imperfect apple that made the other bad apple happy is my husband! The apple seedlings are my children!"

A tense silence.

"You know, I really rather be a pear. I like pears better. They are simply lovely poached and with a bit of jam."

Laughter. Sweet laughter broke from the two tense, no longer young, but not quite old, men.

"I guess I have thought of you in the recent years. Guess I needed some sort of closure. Never thought it would involve apples." Pumpinator scratched his neck.

"Yeah, other bad apple, I guess you didn't."

"Max! Are you just going to argue about apples all day or are you going to eat your popsicle before it melts?"

Kevin's attention was suddenly drawn to a man with messy brown hair, a slightly round belly (the kid that was on the way?). The man's voice was familiar, but he couldn't place where. There were 4 children standing at his side.

"Duckies! Duckies! Duckies!" two of the younger ones cried.

"Yeah kids, we'll see the ducks. Taro, promise me you won't throw anything but bread this time. You're setting a bad example for the kids."

"But I was so sure the ducks would have liked Chinese better then stale bread. And if they didn't, I don't see why they all had to gang up on me like that!"

"Who's Max?" asked Kevin.

"My name. My mother wouldn't let my father name me 'Pumpinator'."

The family left for the duck pound.

Wait a minute, Taro? thought Kevin. Could Pumpinator have gotten together with him out of all people?

Kevin pondered the consequences if it turned out he was correct.

"Oh whatever." Kevin said to himself. Things really can change in 15 years. He figured things would work themselves out. He went on his way.


End file.
